First Whisperings of Autumn
Herb, squash and potato jungle
It is the first week of Autumn here in the southern hemisphere. We had a mini heatwave, but now the crisp mornings and deep clear blue skies of autumn are here. The garden has turned into a feral jungle, due to me ignoring it completely all summer except to water. I am nothing if not an inconsistent gardener. However, it is a gloriously productive feral jungle, with food bursting out all over the place. The first whisperings of autumn always call me back to the garden, as I suddenly wake up from my summer haze and think, "Oh, my goodness, what has been going on here? Order! I must have order! And a plan." And probably the garden is laughing at me, because I believe I am in charge of the garden..
Rocket, chard and chilli jungle
Feral tomatoes
Garden mystery. Is it a cape gooseberry or a ground cherry? It popped up out of nowhere.
This morning I imposed a patch of order on the chaos. The garden is still laughing at me..
Comments
Autumn, however, galvanises me into action, so here's to all those gardening jobs we have left undone:)
Regards, Specks
The mini heatwave is lingering here, which to be honest is not a bad thing as the cantaloupe may yet ripen (fingers crossed). Despite your protestations to the contrary, your garden is looking lovely and the herbs and vegetables are doing well in a feral mess of plants (the best way to garden really - mostly down here they look after themselves)! Oh, the plant in question looks to me like a Cape Gooseberry. Hopefully the little berries inside the paper thin coatings are orange? If they are green wait a week or so until they turn orange. They taste a bit soapy at first like a Kangaroo apple (they're in the same family of plants) but then a really nice flavour kicks in. I like the taste of them and the plant can be hacked back to a small stump for over winter and it will regrow the following spring! It is a very considerate plant to do that trick.
I was wondering if that was pea straw on the ground as a mulch?
Chris
Meg, still summery here too, with just a touch of autumn in the mornings. In my opinion summer goes on for about six weeks too long..
Chris, the paper coatings on my gooseberries are still so thick and green that I can't see inside, so I am thinking a few weeks yet. Thanks for the advice re overwintering them - I didn't know they did that.
Yes, pea straw mulch is what I use all over the garden. Plenty of it about, most of the local farmers have a crop of peas in over the spring, although the sensible ones leave the pea straw in the fields to mulch the next crop. Some of my farmer friends did the experiment and discovered that the crop planted in the pea straw mulch did so much better that it more than compensated for the loss of income from selling the pea straw..